


“did you get my letter?”

by clickingkeyboards



Series: one hundred ways to say 'i love you' [47]
Category: Murder Most Unladylike Series - Robin Stevens
Genre: Friendship, Letters, Long-Distance Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:02:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21905659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clickingkeyboards/pseuds/clickingkeyboards
Summary: Ah Lan and Hazel keep in contact.Canon EraWritten for the forty-seventh prompt in the '100 ways to say "I love you"' prompt list by p0ck3tf0x on Tumblr.
Series: one hundred ways to say 'i love you' [47]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1533164
Kudos: 18





	“did you get my letter?”

Dear Hazel Wong,

It is a pleasure to be writing to you.

Teddy is well. He is gurgling out things close to words and can sort of walk, even though he stumbles. May has delved further into being a pirate queen, and I did some research to regale her with the story of a pirate woman named Anne Bonnie. She has whittled down some bamboo into a point and is spearing at her ‘pirate foes’ (plants). I regret telling her the English term ‘pirate foes’ as now everybody who she does not like is a ‘pirate foe’.

Your parents are speaking now but, when they do speak, there is tension and many careful pauses. I am not breathing in case I jinx it while they are walking together in the garden.

My position in the Five Jade Figures has not changed. It is not something I can talk about but thank you for ensuring our lack of involvement in the mystery of your brother.

I have enclosed several Chinese prayers from your grandfather’s religion in case you would like to pray for Su Li and your grandfather.

Yours,

Ah Lan

* * *

Dear Ah Lan,

It was so wonderful for you to write to me, and in English too! I squealed when I saw it. Your English writing is quite wonderful, especially for somebody who does not have a father as obsessed with England as my own.

Daisy says hello, and asks if you are doing well yourself, never mind anything else in Hong Kong. She hopes that the Five Jade Figures is treating you well, and has made several amusing comments about ‘gangs from the East’ (as people from Deepdean thought that ‘gangs from the East’ were involved in the first case we even solved. Even though Daisy and I were scornful, they actually played a large role in this case). We are in the middle of another murder investigation, which is rather a disaster and I was hoping to avoid all this ridiculous business. For your information, I am not back at Deepdean yet, which is why my reply has taken so long: it arrived at Deepdean and has to be sent on to my current residence, which is at Daisy’s uncle’s flat in London. I’ve enclosed the address on an envelope for your next letter (assuming that you were planning to write one).

This murder is at a theatre, a rather dramatic affair with all the flair and drama of a novel. We have narrowed down our suspects and I have been grounded because I snuck out with our two detective friends (Alexander and George) to investigate while Daisy was sick in bed. Daisy has been laughing at me because of it.

I will write to you when the case finishes.

I hope you are well. Detective Society forever!

Yours,

Hazel Wong

* * *

Dear Hazel Wong,

I have directed this letter to Deepdean, as I do not doubt that you are back there now (letters from Hong Kong take far too long, perhaps one day we will be able to send letters over those fantastic fictional digital things).

Do write back to me about the exciting case you investigated, as I can’t imagine what being on the scene so closely is like!

Teddy is walking properly now. Yesterday, he got outside the house and toddled all the way out into the gardens and started tugging on my trousers. Your mother and father are tentatively talking now, though your mother is still not allowed near Teddy. Your sisters say, “Hello, Ying-Ying!” Your father has said that Rose can begin school in England when she reaches the right age, and he has begun to bring her English children's books and started to dedicate hours daily to improving her English and teaching her about English schools. He only hopes that she does not make a habit of being a detective as you have.

I am alright myself, and I have begun reading some Chinese mystery books that your father was kind enough to lend me.

Detective Society forever!

Yours,

Ah Lan

* * *

_ (written on a postcard smudged with dirt with the Hong Kong skyline on it.) _

Dear Hazel Wong,

**Did you get my letter** , Hazel? It should have arrived by now. I have saved up some money in order to possibly call you during your next school term. I wish you well. Detective Society forever.

Yours,

Ah Lan

* * *

Dear Ah Lan,

No matter how you feel about this, I simply must tell you what has been going on. There was another murder at Deepdean over the Anniversary Weekend, the celebration of one hundred years of Deepdean school. Parents murdering each other, and the school would have been shut down if we did not solve it. Daisy feels that it was terribly exciting, while I was just plain terrified.

When we arrived back at Deepdean, the school had been turned upside down. There is a new girl called Amina El Maghrabi who is very popular all of a sudden, and Daisy is no longer the queen of Deepdean. I understand that this sounds all trivial to you, especially given what happened with Teddy, but this is an enormous deal and affects our ability to detect. However, Amina El Maghrabi has turned out to be very kind: she is hanging out with Daisy and I now and that is pulling Daisy up to enormous popularity. While I am not as popular as she is, people are no longer spitting at me because I am Chinese. Amina has even invited us to her house (in Cairo!) over the holidays. Although we are already doing something (going to the seaside with the boys, and I am deadly excited), we told her that we were flattered and she said maybe we could do it another holiday.

Daisy has been acting most odd. At the Rue (the theatre we were investigating at), Daisy developed off behaviour over one actress: Daisy  _ likes  _ her. I know that you do not mind those sorts of things, which is the only reason why I am confessing this to you (with her permission, of course). However, it seems that this crush (more than a pash, the way I like boys) has moved on to Amina El Maghrabi. I will update this when I have more information on these curious developments: Daisy having a possible romantic interest is most interesting, almost an entire case on its own, just less death-y.

Yours,

Hazel Wong


End file.
